Happy Valentine's Day!

while eating dinner on valentine's day, kent looked up on his phone where valentine's day comes from and how the traditions started...not ANYTHING like we do it today ha ha! anyway, happy valentine's day!

the only "decorations" we have for valentine's day are books and stuffed animals. lacking, right? and we didn't add any this year so maybe i will have the energy to get or make some next year =o]

the kids LOVE our holiday books and look forward to that part of our celebrations with each one.

we had a great time making and sending valentines to all of our cousins and grandparents who live far away. (i feel bad that we dropped the ball for my brothers and our one little cousin evelyn who doesn't eat candy yet. once we took all the other packages to the post office to mail, it just kept slipping my mind to send the others. again, maybe next year i will be more organized!)  natalie and caleb also made valentines for their friends and teachers in their primary classes. 

every year i make chocolates that are STELLAR and eat like half of them myself ha ha! the ones i don't use for my own family's valentines, i give to the sisters i visit teach and select friends too. caleb enjoyed making them with me, especially the part where he got to lick out the bowl when we were done =o]

 kent has mentioned in the past that this is a cool tradition and all, but it really isn't a gift for him because i give them all away. so this year i made a treat just for him that none of the kids even like so that he could feel extra special and we would get to eat it all: peanut butter rice crispy treats. (and i broke my favorite spatula while making them =o[ ) he finished the last of it tonight lol

valentine's day morning we made heart blueberry pancakes. for me, pancakes mean i love you unlike anything else that comes from the kitchen!

kent had a surprise for us in the fridge since he was already long gone at work- chocolate covered strawberries! (and thus began the sugar overload for the day) jenna the sneaky snake snatched one during the picture!

then we went into the dining room to open up their valentine mailboxes. i had plans for them to decorate them that day, but we just ran out of time! kent gave me this beautiful bouquet and a sweet card.  

kent gave each of the kids some candy and a stuffed animal. i made each of them, including kent, a card with a pop up picture of the two of us in a heart shape and reasons written all over the background why i love them. i used this difference as a teaching moment. i asked the kids if they noticed that their valentines from me and kent were different. they said yes and how they were different. then i asked if one was better than the other. natalie looked at her valentines. caleb looked at natalie. jenna ate another bite of her gummy life saver. seth just stared. i said "no. different doesn't have to mean better or worse, it is just different. everyone shows love in different ways and we should accept what people give as their very best!" i am glad they have different ends of the spectrum as examples so they can see that whether it comes from a store or it is homemade, it can still mean a thoughtful "i love you!" 

kent hid candy for them to find on a valentine hunt =o]

one of the projects natalie did in preparation for valentines day was to make these "cookies" =o] i think she gave me 17 valentines. i'm not exaggerating. this girl LOVES giving and receiving cards. she dutifully checked the mail box every day leading up to valentines day just in case someone sent her something. 

then we made valentine's day cupcakes to give to their teachers, and to the one girl who is now in natalie's class who moved into our ward. natalie is hoping this will help them to be friends =o]

jenna gets the award for most frosting consumed and least edible cupcake ha!

we delivered the valentines and then ate lunch and had quiet time for the littles and school for the older two (we did the bare minimum lol) and then hurried off to a party at a friend's house. i had planned to deliver my valentine treat to my new visiting teaching sister but got lost and couldn't find her house. just when we got to the party she called and tried to explain how to get there. so i dropped the older two off and much to jenna's disappointment took off for a second attempt. unbelievably i ran out of gas and coasted into a blessed station literally just in the nick of time. i eventually found the girl's house when kent texted me saying he had come home to surprise us and we weren't there! so i hurried back to the party to stay long enough to say hi and get the kids back in the car (jenna was HEARTBROKEN) and came home to find my surprise #3 of kent cleaning up the kitchen and family room which had previously been a black hole. it was the sweetest present yet! we made dinner all together and ate in the dining room with our special place settings and everything. it was such a lovely night of just hanging out and playing silly games together as first seth, then jenna, and finally caleb and natalie went to bed. kent got me the movie "The Great Gatsby", which is a change up from our traditional romantic comedy. we had a wonderful evening!
i'm so grateful we are all together with our whole family on this day of celebrating love and relationships! it is a blessing to be married and a member of an eternal family. i love you kent! i love you natalie! i love you caleb! i love you jenna! i love you seth! and i can feel and know that you love me too!

how could i do anything but ADORE them?